I pissed off the flamer
Mar. 6th, 2003 09:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serafina20Oh my fucking God.
The person who wrote me yesterday took offense to me trying to defend my story. The beginning letter this asshole sent me was pretty good comments, even if they misinterpreted what I was doing and ignored half the series. This is what they wrote:
"You started off pretty good with the Lana storyline and then out of no where your created a rather absurd storyline to try and make Lana the villain and Chloe the fair heartbroken damsel and that really disappointed me because one of the main reason I liked your work is that your stories didn't have that catty I hate Lana undertone to it."
First off, I don't think the storyline was absurd. This is Smallville; the show is about mutants and the effects that the meteors had. Having a teenage boy not take advantage of a girl who's half naked in front of him and begging him to take her is absurd. I just extended the storyline further to see what would happen if Chloe and Lana slept together and Lana didn't remember. Did I intend to make Lana the villian? No. I put too my of myself and my own hang-ups about sex to intend that. But, for whatever reason, although I idntify with Lana, I can't get into her head, so I wrote from other people's POV. Yes, Chloe was heartbroken, but so was Lana. They were both very hurt and scarred by the experience and their whole arc was about them trying to come to terms with what happened. And Lex wasn't supposed to be helping with that.
As for the catty undertone... I'm not thrilled with the way Lana is written on the show, but I like the way I write her. I write her as a confused, human girl trying to figure herself out. Just because comes off as a bitch for, what, five, six parts of the fic, it doesn't represent the sum total of how she will be represented. We all go in cycles; there are months when I can't talk to anyone without snapping at them, or I fight uncontrollably with people (well, not so much anymore, but when I was a teenager I did). This is what Lana--and Chloe--are going through. By 'Coming Undone' it was over; they were both moving on and finding their equilibrium again. Just like real life.
"It was just completely neutral and she was just a character who wasn't evil while everyone else in the story fluttered around with halos over there heads deeming how perfect they were. The thing that made it so bad was that the plot device you used to break apart Chloe and Lana and make Lana look like the bad guy. I mean come on. She seduces Chloe while under the influence of the Nicodemus and Chloe doesn't realize that something's different? Chloe notices almost everything only some things get past her. Did you send her brain and instincts on a vacation to the Bahamas?"
Hmmm, a hormonally charged girl is in a car with her girlfriend. This girlfriend often wants to make out, park, and fool around. Before, she hasn't been ready for sex, but she says she's ready now. Chloe is used to following Lana's lead because she wants Lana to be comfortable. Lana starts pushing for sex, and Chloe's supposed to be able to read her mind and realize something is wrong? At this point of the episode, they don't really know the symptoms. It wasn't until Lana that Clark put two and two together. To Chloe, it was just an almost normal night out with her girlfriend, and she let herself be led by her hormones. Now, I never was a hormonally charged teenager, but from what I see on television, this is a pretty common scenario.
"Then on top of that Lana's Satan because she found out what
happened, via Chloe, and it made her upset; but yet she's wrong and not
worthy of having Chloe? "
No, she's not Satan. She's a freaked out teenaged girl who's just been raped. I'd say my main mistake is that I had Lex say that Lana wasn't worth of Chloe. I never meant for anyone to believe him. Firs of all, it's not a question of worthiness. Being worthy of someone is Lex's hang up, not Chloe's. Second of all, Lex is threatened by Lana, so he's going to take what chance he has to bash her because he needs that. I wrote Interlude 4: Coda to explain Lana's POV without making either her or Chloe anything but what they are: two teenage girls trying to come to terms with what happened to them.
Okay, so all of those concerns are reasonable and well stated. Well, I flat out don't agree that Chloe should have known something was wrong, but again, it's something I can defend myself and my series against by explaining my interpretation. And then we come to this:
"It's ok to take some jabs at a character, that you don't like, in your stories; but reign your inner bitch in and get some control over it before you write the next story. Please bring back the neutral unique and wonderful story that you started off with. Leave catty Lex and all those things out the next time, please."
I get so pissed off when someone assumes that I'm taking jabs at a character because I don't like them. That's something an immature writer does, and I am not an immature writer. But the part that really angered me was the 'reign in your inner bitch.' That is not constructive criticism and it makes me think that this person is a flat out asshole. My first response to that was 'fuck you' but I decided it wouldn't get me anywhere. Even had it been phrased differently (retain your objectivity, think about how it will be taken, try not to succumb to temptation to rip into a character you don't like), I wouldn't be so angry, but what they said was so rude. And I guess I let that anger bleed into my response (I told them no to the catty Lex; my Lex is catty and once again, that was not a constructive crit; it was command on how I should write MY character).
Anyway, today I got this:
"I never once yelled at you in my letter, nor did I once ever refer or call you immature. I also never once said that your story sucked. I simply stated how I felt about a storyline in the current part of your story and the current characterization of some of the characters.
I'm sorry I had an opinion and I'm sorry I bothered to express that opinion via feedback. Perhaps you will rest, sleep, and write happily and easily knowing that I won't bother you with feedback anymore. Sorry that I was a nuisance and that my input frustrated you."
I think any writer would be frustrated with constructive criticism, no matter how nicely it is phrased. We all want our stuff to be liked universally. But, I still want it. I just want it to be civil and for it to be constructive, like it was in the beginning. Even though, the more I think about it, it was less critisim on the fic and more critcim on how they percieved I felt about Lana.
I honestly don't remember insinuating this person said my series sucked. I did say that they called me immature, since I feel only an immature writer would use a fic to bash a character they didn't like (if it wasn't a humour story, that is). But suggesting I would do it is to suggest that I am immature or an immature writer. I also do remember pointing out my side, which I guess I wasn't supposed to do. Go forbid I try to explain what I was trying to do; we wouldn't to start and actual dialogue. And if you take out the 'inner bitch' thing and the attempt to dictate how I write my characters at the end, it would have been an enjoyable debate. It isn't often I get to go through my fics and pull out quotes to try and explain what I'm doing and show it.
Anyway, I told this person what angered me and basically what I wrote in the above paragraph. Then I said something to the effect that if they can't keep their tone civil and accept the fact that I'm going to defend my work, they're not worth talking to.
The person who wrote me yesterday took offense to me trying to defend my story. The beginning letter this asshole sent me was pretty good comments, even if they misinterpreted what I was doing and ignored half the series. This is what they wrote:
"You started off pretty good with the Lana storyline and then out of no where your created a rather absurd storyline to try and make Lana the villain and Chloe the fair heartbroken damsel and that really disappointed me because one of the main reason I liked your work is that your stories didn't have that catty I hate Lana undertone to it."
First off, I don't think the storyline was absurd. This is Smallville; the show is about mutants and the effects that the meteors had. Having a teenage boy not take advantage of a girl who's half naked in front of him and begging him to take her is absurd. I just extended the storyline further to see what would happen if Chloe and Lana slept together and Lana didn't remember. Did I intend to make Lana the villian? No. I put too my of myself and my own hang-ups about sex to intend that. But, for whatever reason, although I idntify with Lana, I can't get into her head, so I wrote from other people's POV. Yes, Chloe was heartbroken, but so was Lana. They were both very hurt and scarred by the experience and their whole arc was about them trying to come to terms with what happened. And Lex wasn't supposed to be helping with that.
As for the catty undertone... I'm not thrilled with the way Lana is written on the show, but I like the way I write her. I write her as a confused, human girl trying to figure herself out. Just because comes off as a bitch for, what, five, six parts of the fic, it doesn't represent the sum total of how she will be represented. We all go in cycles; there are months when I can't talk to anyone without snapping at them, or I fight uncontrollably with people (well, not so much anymore, but when I was a teenager I did). This is what Lana--and Chloe--are going through. By 'Coming Undone' it was over; they were both moving on and finding their equilibrium again. Just like real life.
"It was just completely neutral and she was just a character who wasn't evil while everyone else in the story fluttered around with halos over there heads deeming how perfect they were. The thing that made it so bad was that the plot device you used to break apart Chloe and Lana and make Lana look like the bad guy. I mean come on. She seduces Chloe while under the influence of the Nicodemus and Chloe doesn't realize that something's different? Chloe notices almost everything only some things get past her. Did you send her brain and instincts on a vacation to the Bahamas?"
Hmmm, a hormonally charged girl is in a car with her girlfriend. This girlfriend often wants to make out, park, and fool around. Before, she hasn't been ready for sex, but she says she's ready now. Chloe is used to following Lana's lead because she wants Lana to be comfortable. Lana starts pushing for sex, and Chloe's supposed to be able to read her mind and realize something is wrong? At this point of the episode, they don't really know the symptoms. It wasn't until Lana that Clark put two and two together. To Chloe, it was just an almost normal night out with her girlfriend, and she let herself be led by her hormones. Now, I never was a hormonally charged teenager, but from what I see on television, this is a pretty common scenario.
"Then on top of that Lana's Satan because she found out what
happened, via Chloe, and it made her upset; but yet she's wrong and not
worthy of having Chloe? "
No, she's not Satan. She's a freaked out teenaged girl who's just been raped. I'd say my main mistake is that I had Lex say that Lana wasn't worth of Chloe. I never meant for anyone to believe him. Firs of all, it's not a question of worthiness. Being worthy of someone is Lex's hang up, not Chloe's. Second of all, Lex is threatened by Lana, so he's going to take what chance he has to bash her because he needs that. I wrote Interlude 4: Coda to explain Lana's POV without making either her or Chloe anything but what they are: two teenage girls trying to come to terms with what happened to them.
Okay, so all of those concerns are reasonable and well stated. Well, I flat out don't agree that Chloe should have known something was wrong, but again, it's something I can defend myself and my series against by explaining my interpretation. And then we come to this:
"It's ok to take some jabs at a character, that you don't like, in your stories; but reign your inner bitch in and get some control over it before you write the next story. Please bring back the neutral unique and wonderful story that you started off with. Leave catty Lex and all those things out the next time, please."
I get so pissed off when someone assumes that I'm taking jabs at a character because I don't like them. That's something an immature writer does, and I am not an immature writer. But the part that really angered me was the 'reign in your inner bitch.' That is not constructive criticism and it makes me think that this person is a flat out asshole. My first response to that was 'fuck you' but I decided it wouldn't get me anywhere. Even had it been phrased differently (retain your objectivity, think about how it will be taken, try not to succumb to temptation to rip into a character you don't like), I wouldn't be so angry, but what they said was so rude. And I guess I let that anger bleed into my response (I told them no to the catty Lex; my Lex is catty and once again, that was not a constructive crit; it was command on how I should write MY character).
Anyway, today I got this:
"I never once yelled at you in my letter, nor did I once ever refer or call you immature. I also never once said that your story sucked. I simply stated how I felt about a storyline in the current part of your story and the current characterization of some of the characters.
I'm sorry I had an opinion and I'm sorry I bothered to express that opinion via feedback. Perhaps you will rest, sleep, and write happily and easily knowing that I won't bother you with feedback anymore. Sorry that I was a nuisance and that my input frustrated you."
I think any writer would be frustrated with constructive criticism, no matter how nicely it is phrased. We all want our stuff to be liked universally. But, I still want it. I just want it to be civil and for it to be constructive, like it was in the beginning. Even though, the more I think about it, it was less critisim on the fic and more critcim on how they percieved I felt about Lana.
I honestly don't remember insinuating this person said my series sucked. I did say that they called me immature, since I feel only an immature writer would use a fic to bash a character they didn't like (if it wasn't a humour story, that is). But suggesting I would do it is to suggest that I am immature or an immature writer. I also do remember pointing out my side, which I guess I wasn't supposed to do. Go forbid I try to explain what I was trying to do; we wouldn't to start and actual dialogue. And if you take out the 'inner bitch' thing and the attempt to dictate how I write my characters at the end, it would have been an enjoyable debate. It isn't often I get to go through my fics and pull out quotes to try and explain what I'm doing and show it.
Anyway, I told this person what angered me and basically what I wrote in the above paragraph. Then I said something to the effect that if they can't keep their tone civil and accept the fact that I'm going to defend my work, they're not worth talking to.
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